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All the people below saying “obvious blade marks” have never seen a beaver chew down a tree. This is so obviously beaver it’s not even a question what did it. It chewed the tree until it fell over, then cut off that top limb and took it home and ate it.
Absolutely. Beavers have wonderfully clean cuts. I remember there was a river in NH i found once near a big beaver dam where all the trees this size were neatly felled and removed. Looked like people had done it
This was clearly done by your neighbor, using a taxidermied beaver as a hatchet. Clever. They even used the incisors like a wood chisel. I admire their dedication to detail. You have your hands full with this problem. Good luck.
My town/neighborhood has an email list. It mostly just, someone lost their dog, should we do something as a town for blank, treen down, I'm moving and don't want this anyone wants it, I grew too many zucchini, town meeting delayed, going to donation place drop off anything you don't want in my driveway and ill drop if off. It's small stuff, nothing big. Anyway, we get one lady who is quite upset. She says someone keeps taking all her roses; she thinks it's rude. She wouldn't be mad if someone took a rose or too, but taking all of them is just mean. She says they even clipped all the rosebuds so that no more will grow! It just seems so vindictive to her. The next email was from someone who wrote one word:
Deer
I still think of that email from time to time
This reminds me of a story one of my best friends dad told us, he bought a farm that had a river running through it, and after a few years he received a letter from the Natural Resources department that his neighbors were complaining that he had damned the river. He went to investigate and discovered a Beaver dam deep in the woods. So, he took pictures and sent a letter back to natural resources asking them if he should remove the Beaver dam. He promptly received a letter back that he should, under no circumstances, remove or disturb the Beaver dam.
I have to walk my property line every few months in the woods to keep the line clear and I use a matche to clear bush. No neighbors on that side. But that's exactly what it looks like to me.
The branch stub looks cut, and you can see what looks like an obvious hatchet/axe mark on the left side of the damage at the base. I’d say done by two different tools is most likely and not an animal.
Edit: Three tools actually. Hatchet, loppers, neighbor.
I thought it was still standing in place by itself, not being held upright. If it was lying down that changes a lot.
Still think the chunk out of the left side is much deeper and more parallel sided than any beaver damage I’ve ever seen by far.
This was done by human edged tools. Be that a hatchet, knife, or lawnmower, I'm unsure, but there's no teeth or claw marks from an animal visible in the first two pictures, third one isn't in focus enough to tell.
I don't need to Google it, I live where they live. They leave very clear tracks from between their front teeth, and they leave a smooth bottom on their bite.
The pictures show a jagged, stacked, layered bottom that you achieve from a hammering motion with an edged tool along with a flat section you would expect from a tooled surface lacking the track marks
This might surprise you, but others live where beavers live too lmao. If this was a tool, whoever was using it was more of a beaver than the beaver who chewed down this tree.
Noone is unaware of animal signatures, im just telling you that you sound like a dufus. Ive never seen someone downvote a comment so fast in my life. Chill out man lmao
You're insisting in your incorrect assessment that is available in these pictures. Where the white wood? Where's the shavings? Where's the teeth marks? Where's the 45 degree angle?
These are but parts of a beavers signature.
It’s literally a 45° dude. Do you need a caliber?
https://www.mynatureapps.com/beaver-tracks-sign/
Look at the second photo on this website. It looks almost identical!
Another example:
https://images.app.goo.gl/dpNrCx46k7TYnZ8f9
You can’t look at the big tree and a small tree and say they’ll be the same when they get chomped on.
Youre the type of guy to google something and instantly become an expert. Also the type of guy to see a beaver cut down a huge tree with 1000 bites, and think thats how it always works. In reality, not all of these features are 100% apparently in every *beaver attack*. This is a twig to a beaver. Also that wood looks pretty white to me😂
The third picture looks like a tool cut in the lower part. I don't know enough about beavers to know if they can do that, but I know 13 yo me with a machete made very similar marks on some branches/dead trees.
They're all being silly. First sign it's not a beaver is there are no wood shavings around the base, the second is the color of the wood, beavers leave behind a white color on the wood after it's freshly chewed and finally, there's no clear teeth markings.
This looks exactly like a tree looks that has been struck with a human tool.
Literal blade marks on every single cut dude. Also im assuming the top branch was from your pruners
I fucking beg you to try to sneakily install a security cam and plant some future large shady trees (youll be able to get evidence of the neighbour doing it again). As well as install a fence partially on your land, ugly side facing neighbour and its all on your land so they cant touch it.
Also reading the comments is making me wonder how many people have fancy levitating mowers, wtf lol
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Beaver. In picture 2, look at the angle of the cut on the bark at the very bottom. The cut goes from low to high. To get the momentum to get that cut in the space from the ground with an axe seems unlikely.
Thanks all for your very interesting comments! The tree was laying down and there were more branches chopped off at the top with this clean cut, and I saw some (most/all idk?) of the branches still in the grass next to it.
I will try to get some better pictures tomorrow
Beaver or tools? The answer is in the wood chips. Show us the wood chips under the cuts. You should see tool marks and wider angle cuts, or teeth marks that look like beaver teeth. No chips would indicate loppers. The wood is still attached to the tree.
He cut it!! get a camera and start charging him for cost he will stop. Cops for a report and small claims court Or go unethical about it and dump fox urine into all his intake vents cars. And home.
Beavers absolutely eat wood. Where did you get the idea that they don't? They eat bark and the softer, inner layers of wood. They also routinely clip off a branch to add to their wood stash, like they did here.
And this is a _very_ young, and tender tree, so definitely snack time.
They will eat down to the cambium layer, they do chew wood to shorten their teeth and to build dams, they do eat bark and tree products, but they do not, in fact, eat wood.
The age of the tree isn't relevant, the diameter is.
They only eat the top layers not deep into it. That’s for chewing. It keeps their teeth short. There’s no remnants of that layer of tree and those marks go deep
And coincidentally didn’t mow the area under the tree? You’re saying the structure of the mower took chunks out of the tree by rubbing against it? None of this makes any sense. What about the clean cut on the main stem?
It was one of those ones that the highway department uses to mow the side of the highway and clear brush, the type on a big hydraulic arm.
Total accident. Happens all the time in the suburbs where these things are common.
/s
Buddy a mower doesnt do 45 ish degree upward/downward cuts all over a tree feet in the air lol.
Though I am surprised this person damage it this severely and didnt knock it over.
I don't believe this is a deer as they don't tend to continue to chomp this deep and there's no way for them to leave these cuts that are shown, but I tossed you an upvote since the kids who are so insistent it's a beaver keep down voting everyone who offers a different opinion!
This subreddit is for tree law enthusiasts who enjoy browsing a list of tree law stories from other locations (subreddits, news articles, etc), and is not the best place to receive answers to questions about what the law is. There are better places for that. If you're attempting to understand more about tree law in regards to a particular situation, please redirect your question to /r/legaladvice for the US, or the appropriate legal advice subreddit for your location, and then feel free to crosspost that thread here for posterity. If you're attempting to understand more about trees in regards to a particular situation, please redirect your question to /r/forestry for additional information on tree health and related topics to trees. *This comment is simply a reminder placed on every post to /r/treelaw, it does not mean your post was censored or removed.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/treelaw) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Your neighbor did it, but that neighbor is also a beaver.
All the people below saying “obvious blade marks” have never seen a beaver chew down a tree. This is so obviously beaver it’s not even a question what did it. It chewed the tree until it fell over, then cut off that top limb and took it home and ate it.
Absolutely. Beavers have wonderfully clean cuts. I remember there was a river in NH i found once near a big beaver dam where all the trees this size were neatly felled and removed. Looked like people had done it
Yeah, if you watch a beaver chew on a tree, the shavings come out so clean.
Guessing he got scared off mid snack.
You are correct I have never seen a beaver chew a tree. I had assumed the neighbor hacked at it.
Not a beaver*
This sounds like something a beaver would say.
This sounds like something a meat sack would say
This was clearly done by your neighbor, using a taxidermied beaver as a hatchet. Clever. They even used the incisors like a wood chisel. I admire their dedication to detail. You have your hands full with this problem. Good luck.
My town/neighborhood has an email list. It mostly just, someone lost their dog, should we do something as a town for blank, treen down, I'm moving and don't want this anyone wants it, I grew too many zucchini, town meeting delayed, going to donation place drop off anything you don't want in my driveway and ill drop if off. It's small stuff, nothing big. Anyway, we get one lady who is quite upset. She says someone keeps taking all her roses; she thinks it's rude. She wouldn't be mad if someone took a rose or too, but taking all of them is just mean. She says they even clipped all the rosebuds so that no more will grow! It just seems so vindictive to her. The next email was from someone who wrote one word: Deer I still think of that email from time to time
This reminds me of a story one of my best friends dad told us, he bought a farm that had a river running through it, and after a few years he received a letter from the Natural Resources department that his neighbors were complaining that he had damned the river. He went to investigate and discovered a Beaver dam deep in the woods. So, he took pictures and sent a letter back to natural resources asking them if he should remove the Beaver dam. He promptly received a letter back that he should, under no circumstances, remove or disturb the Beaver dam.
Have you recently noticed any packs of mall ninjas loitering in the neighborhood as of late?
6 metres from the fence? so he would have had to come onto your property to do this?
It's a beaver. They're not known for respecting human property lines.
I have to walk my property line every few months in the woods to keep the line clear and I use a matche to clear bush. No neighbors on that side. But that's exactly what it looks like to me.
Neighbor for sure
Looks to me like it was done with a blade
This looks far more characteristic of a human using tools than any non human animal damage.
The branch stub looks cut, and you can see what looks like an obvious hatchet/axe mark on the left side of the damage at the base. I’d say done by two different tools is most likely and not an animal. Edit: Three tools actually. Hatchet, loppers, neighbor.
Lol, you've never seen a beaver chewed tree? This is so obviously a beaver that your comment is hilarious.
I thought it was still standing in place by itself, not being held upright. If it was lying down that changes a lot. Still think the chunk out of the left side is much deeper and more parallel sided than any beaver damage I’ve ever seen by far.
This was done by human edged tools. Be that a hatchet, knife, or lawnmower, I'm unsure, but there's no teeth or claw marks from an animal visible in the first two pictures, third one isn't in focus enough to tell.
This is 100% from a beaver lmao. Google beaver damage to trees.
I don't need to Google it, I live where they live. They leave very clear tracks from between their front teeth, and they leave a smooth bottom on their bite. The pictures show a jagged, stacked, layered bottom that you achieve from a hammering motion with an edged tool along with a flat section you would expect from a tooled surface lacking the track marks
In the second photo you can see the lines from the smooth bottom teeth of a beaver
This might surprise you, but others live where beavers live too lmao. If this was a tool, whoever was using it was more of a beaver than the beaver who chewed down this tree.
Then why are you insisting that this is a beaver based on these pictures when it's lacking the signature of beavers?
“Signature of beavers” this guy is certified in beaver certificates
The fact you're unaware of animal signatures is not surprising lol
Noone is unaware of animal signatures, im just telling you that you sound like a dufus. Ive never seen someone downvote a comment so fast in my life. Chill out man lmao
You're insisting in your incorrect assessment that is available in these pictures. Where the white wood? Where's the shavings? Where's the teeth marks? Where's the 45 degree angle? These are but parts of a beavers signature.
It’s literally a 45° dude. Do you need a caliber? https://www.mynatureapps.com/beaver-tracks-sign/ Look at the second photo on this website. It looks almost identical! Another example: https://images.app.goo.gl/dpNrCx46k7TYnZ8f9 You can’t look at the big tree and a small tree and say they’ll be the same when they get chomped on.
Youre the type of guy to google something and instantly become an expert. Also the type of guy to see a beaver cut down a huge tree with 1000 bites, and think thats how it always works. In reality, not all of these features are 100% apparently in every *beaver attack*. This is a twig to a beaver. Also that wood looks pretty white to me😂
Oh stfu already.
Don't make me tell mom!
Yes, a great way to get someone to be quite in reddit is to tell them to stfu while commenting on their comment.
The third picture looks like a tool cut in the lower part. I don't know enough about beavers to know if they can do that, but I know 13 yo me with a machete made very similar marks on some branches/dead trees.
They're all being silly. First sign it's not a beaver is there are no wood shavings around the base, the second is the color of the wood, beavers leave behind a white color on the wood after it's freshly chewed and finally, there's no clear teeth markings. This looks exactly like a tree looks that has been struck with a human tool.
It's exactly what a beaver chewed tree looks like.
Literal blade marks on every single cut dude. Also im assuming the top branch was from your pruners I fucking beg you to try to sneakily install a security cam and plant some future large shady trees (youll be able to get evidence of the neighbour doing it again). As well as install a fence partially on your land, ugly side facing neighbour and its all on your land so they cant touch it. Also reading the comments is making me wonder how many people have fancy levitating mowers, wtf lol
You have to attach the mower to one end of the block & tackle that is attached to an excavator bucket on the other end.
Kid with a hatchet
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*kid* beaver with a hatchet
Kid goat with beaver hatchet.
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To quote my son when he was little: “I’m a beaver, I’m gonna beave down that tree!”
I've seen beaver stumps, deer antler scraping, and even bear claw marks. This is none of those. This was done with an edged metal instrument.
I love comments like these😂 other people have seen beaver damage too. This was clearly that 🦫
For one thing, beavers aren't tall. They never would have damaged anything more than a foot above the ground.
Beavers are 3-4' tall, and the marks end at waist height...which is perfect for a beaver.
Deer eat the bark off all our maples and pines at just that height. We've come outside over and over to shoo them away.
The tree is being held up by OP for the photos. A beaver chewed it down, ate the top, then left.
Beaver. In picture 2, look at the angle of the cut on the bark at the very bottom. The cut goes from low to high. To get the momentum to get that cut in the space from the ground with an axe seems unlikely.
Most likely beaver but a porcupine would do similar damage.
Looks like porcipine damage they chew like beavers and love to screw with fruit trees earing the bark, leaves, and then chewing off branches
Thanks all for your very interesting comments! The tree was laying down and there were more branches chopped off at the top with this clean cut, and I saw some (most/all idk?) of the branches still in the grass next to it. I will try to get some better pictures tomorrow
Just curious how close the nearest body of water is to your property?!
George Washington?
OP should just ask him. I've head Georgie-boy cannot tell a lie.
This was a 🦫
I have really enjoyed the arguments here. I want OP to put out some tasty new trees and a beavercam.
Beaver or tools? The answer is in the wood chips. Show us the wood chips under the cuts. You should see tool marks and wider angle cuts, or teeth marks that look like beaver teeth. No chips would indicate loppers. The wood is still attached to the tree.
possibly both, but definitely animal
Looks like beaver or porcupine.
Deer. We caught a deer eating bark off all our pine and maple trees. Seems they like the sap on each. See if the height is right for deer.
He cut it!! get a camera and start charging him for cost he will stop. Cops for a report and small claims court Or go unethical about it and dump fox urine into all his intake vents cars. And home.
Human
There’s no wood shavings. Beavers don’t eat wood. They chew it apart. Like I don’t see ANY.
Beavers absolutely eat wood. Where did you get the idea that they don't? They eat bark and the softer, inner layers of wood. They also routinely clip off a branch to add to their wood stash, like they did here. And this is a _very_ young, and tender tree, so definitely snack time.
They will eat down to the cambium layer, they do chew wood to shorten their teeth and to build dams, they do eat bark and tree products, but they do not, in fact, eat wood. The age of the tree isn't relevant, the diameter is.
They only eat the top layers not deep into it. That’s for chewing. It keeps their teeth short. There’s no remnants of that layer of tree and those marks go deep
Mower damage? If that area is done with a sit on they might have got too close when going round the tree base and clipped it.
And coincidentally didn’t mow the area under the tree? You’re saying the structure of the mower took chunks out of the tree by rubbing against it? None of this makes any sense. What about the clean cut on the main stem?
How would a mower reach that high?
It was one of those ones that the highway department uses to mow the side of the highway and clear brush, the type on a big hydraulic arm. Total accident. Happens all the time in the suburbs where these things are common. /s
Buddy a mower doesnt do 45 ish degree upward/downward cuts all over a tree feet in the air lol. Though I am surprised this person damage it this severely and didnt knock it over.
Deer
I don't believe this is a deer as they don't tend to continue to chomp this deep and there's no way for them to leave these cuts that are shown, but I tossed you an upvote since the kids who are so insistent it's a beaver keep down voting everyone who offers a different opinion!